I knew it's been too good to be true. After bragging about my success in B's bachelor kitchen, something bad was bound to happen. I found a baking stone inside the drawer of the stove. Of course I immediately thought of pizza! I do not actually own a baking stone myself though it is something I always wanted so I thought what a perfect opportunity to test out a gadget before getting my own.
I made a beautifully smooth and elastic dough using a recipe adapted from smitten kitchen with a touch of honey added in. I had big plans for this thin crust pizza. I wanted to top it with locally made apple butter, fresh mozzarella, caramelized onions, cremini mushrooms, thin slices of Virginia country ham, and shaved parmesan cheese. While I caramelized the onions on the stove top, I started to preheat the oven with the baking stone inside. It wasn't long before the entire house was filled with smoke! I frantically ran around to open all the windows and balcony door as fast as I could, fearing the smoke alarm would go off any minute. And then the cat found the opening in the screen door and tried to run out. I stopped it just in time and blocked off the opening with a bunch of boxes. I took a peek inside the oven and saw that the baking stone was the culprit. It was dripping with grease! I removed it from the oven immediately and after much waving and panicking, the smoke eventually cleared.
I still had all the makings of a pizza waiting to go. Well, we could still have pizza with my heavy duty baking sheet. I preheat the oven again. Lo and behold, smoke started filling the house again! Apparently, the baking stone sweated so much grease that there was now a pool of grease on the oven floor. I could not decide if I wanted to cry or scream or sit in a corner in fetal position.
Any use of the oven was obviously out of the question for the evening. Luckily, I made plans to make cranberries walnut chicken salad with the leftover roast chicken we enjoyed on Tuesday. I bulked up the salad with diced apples and seasoned it with some balsamic fig mustard and lemon juice. The chicken salad was delicious on a bed of mache lettuce. It was funny to see B's disappointed expression when I broke the inevitable news that instead of pizza, we were having salad for dinner.
Let's hope the oven cleaning goes well and I can rebound from this epic kitchen disaster. This fiasco only makes me want my pizza even more!
